a day in the life (Edinburgh)

8:30 – Hear my alarm faintly buzzing me out of sleep and pull my earplugs out. Ah, here we are. Good morning buses and speeding cars and screeching brakes! Roll over to the window and peek up out of the curtain – grey cloud cover again. Decide to spend the next few minutes huddled under the down comforter, summoning energy to get up.

9:00 – Wake up again, put on shoes and go for a jog around the Meadows, a huge grass area about 3 blocks away. End up walking the last few minutes, which is okay because it gives me a chance to breathe, and pray.

9:50 – Back up in the apartment, my flatmate (roommate) Sarah awake and making me an omelet. I’m so lucky. Chat, eat, listen to a cd compilation of funk songs after saying grace. Realized we’re out of toilet paper – back down the stairs and across the street to Kamco, one of a row of little convenience stores.

10:40 – Shower, then start reading John 5. Trying to read faithfully, thanks to John Piper’s sermon encouragement last night. “What is the will of God and how do we know it?” Washed some dishes, wiped the counter. Good enough.

11:27 – Hmm, ready earlier than needed. Start reading “My Utmost” – close the book and stay quiet, waiting to hear Jesus’ “hard words” to me for the day. No big response yet. Move on to “Velvet Elvis,” sprawled on my bed facing the window. Select Ben Folds Five from my computer and revel in the chillness of the moment. Start writing this random post because I still have extra time.

12:08 – Time to cash my travelers’ cheques and go to work! Brace myself because the street below I live on is throat-tighteningly noisy and busy.

12:45 – Foiled on my plan to cash the cheques. Head to work early so I can eat my lunch on the floor of the back room. Idly wonder whether I’ll get paid at the end of all of this. Spend the next five hours organizing, pricing and greeting stale-faced customers. Always looking out for thieves! Have fun with two girls trying on school clothes, wanting to know how the clothes look. Laughing inside at the irony of me offering fashion advice.

7:00 – Arrive home to Sarah and Helen, my two happy flatmates. Cook dinner – spaghetti, nectarine and toasted bread. Sarah lights candles. The luxury of it all. Melt into the couch with the setting sun warming my face. Bliss.

9:00 – Go out with S & H for a drink at the posh Grape, a candle-lit, dark-paneled wine bar, then next door to the Hard Rock Café for chips (fries) and ranch dip. Feeling extremely at home.

10:00 – Return, treat ourselves (for the third night in a row) to Cadbury hot chocolate and Digestives… the best cookies ever. Read more “Velvet Elvis,” journal, blinds down, earplugs in. Sleep, to do it again tomorrow.